What is your favourite shooter and why?

[Sasupoika]

Ibara/Garegga
DOJBL
Hellsinker

[BIL]

God, I was in a hurry when I posted yesterday. To elaborate: from the moment the player hits "1P START" they are in the Gun.Smoke world. Common criminals go to stab the back and those of mild disposition soon forfeit all bowel control. Six-way strafe shaves down varmints with orthodox JAMMA control panel and artful touch. Return the wild west spirit of unbridled murder to your business establishment with this hot CAPCOM kit! Yippee ki-yay motherfucker & arigato gozaimashita.

[MathU]

I guess it depends on what I'm playing at the moment. For a long time it was R-Type III. Then it became Chaos Field which got me back into the genre after some years. Then it became Darius Gaiden. That game surely has some of most time I've put into any shooter, but I haven't come back to it in a while since I kind of ran out of ways to beat it and I have a love-hate relationship with its scoring system. Definitely Taito's finest shooter at least.

Hellsinker will always have massive amounts of respect from me and I can still enjoy a replay whenever I feel like it (not to mention every time I get into it I seem to stumble upon some new thing), so maybe I'll go with that. Game seriously has awesome amounts of depth.

[Satan]

Flying Shark.
I just love everything about it. I know that sounds like a cop-out, but I just find myself going back to it again and again.

[M.Knight]

Radirgy, because people hate it, and I love games that people hate. Also Ibara and Karous.

What do you think about Illvelo? While I certainly like Radirgy and Karous, I think it's Illvelo that I prefer. The detachable options bring a whole new level of interactivity, and containing the -sometimes insane- flow of bullets while point blanking the bigger ennemis with them is loads of fun. Karous and Radirgy are a bit more restrained in that aspect as the shield can only be in front of you.
The keys also provide a long-term goal, and the TLB is more difficult to trigger than in Karous where it is basically taken for granted once you know the logos' locations.

As for my favorite shmup, well, for now at least, it is either Illvelo for the aforemented reasons, or Dangun Feveron for the way it combines frantic shooting, dodging and item collecting, not to mention the disco soundtrack and theme. But this may be subject to change.

[KAI]

I like Illvelo, but sometimes I think its 2weird4me. The game doesn't have that thing I love about Radirgy and Karous: "destroy everything for score". I mean, the only thing you need to do to get high scores in Illvelo is finding the warps and clearing the bonus stages to get the TLB (you can even miss everything else on stage in order to find them). Even milking Bosses is kinda useless in that game. It's the Pinksweets of Milestone, it has too much of everything.
Radirgy's chaining and Karous' level up systems are perfect IMO, both mechanics match perfectly the caravan nature of those games.

[Gamer707b]

For me it would have to be Ikaruga, Radiant Silvergun , Axelay and Gaiares. Wait, if its one choice , then I'd go with Radiant Silvergun. That game is magical. From start to finish. The whos who of bosses.

[Gamer707b]

Ive put the most time into Galactic Attack , but im the opposite of you MathU. It is not a game I like . I just stuck with it because the compulsive in me put to much time and energy into it to not 1cc it.

[M.Knight]

KAI : I didn't think too much about it but that's a very valid point. More than once I had to ignore a bunch of enemies to get inside a bonus stage because those were worth less than the keys in the grand scheme of things. Some parts of the stages have you jumping from bonus stage to bonus stage.

That said, this "destroy everything" aspect is still kinda there, first of all within those bonus stages themselves, but also in stage 5 where additionnal mid-bosses spawn when you quick-kill them, and IIRC you have to do that to unlock the TLB in Hard Mode. Combined with the multiplier system, it also means you'll get loads of points from this as you'll cash in your multiplier.
Boss milking being less useful is a plus in my book, but it is true that it was interesting in Karous for instance.

[MintyTheCat]

Not in any real order and I dare say that I have forgotten many of my faves too but:

RECCA

Holy-Grail to me and the best example of doing a lot with a little.

ibara

Fell in love with this the first time I saw it in the flesh and promptly crossed-over to the world of PCBs.

GunHed

Genuinely good fun but a little longish. Some good memories playing this and I love the old school look and feel but it all works well. I actually played Super Aleste first and these two feel like they are one and the same to me.

Soldier-Blade

Highly polished Shmup in the 'soldier' series. I cannot fault it and it is a wonderful Shmup.

Last-Resort

I own it I think four times on various formats and even have the soundtrack. I would love to get the poster.
I have played this more than any other Shmup - tends to happen to people who own NeoGeos with little cash and I love it. Very polished, some of the best Shmup music and it is a NeoGeo title so it is just beautiful to look at.

Seems to be worth a bit of $ these days.

raiden DX

the raiden series to me is the standard and marks when Shmups really changed for verts. I cannot fault the raiden games. DX was just improved and I love it. Pays a debt to Xevious for giving the basis for improvement.

R-Type 3

I always had a thing for R-Type games and play as many clones as I can find usually.
This one I remember well when it was released in 1994 and I just love it.

Axelay

Great to look at and had the expanding perspective thing going on which was rocket science to us kids back in 1992 - the year of the shmup I dubbed later due to how many shmups were released at that time.

DDP

I cannot fault it and this one had not brought in all the idiotic girls that pisses me the fuck off big time - stick to military/SciFi themes and leave the hentai shit to people who still live with their mothers.
Great to play for any level of player I feel and a classic.

ikaruga

This is art! Beutiful, genre expanding high-concept stuff and littered with references along the way. I bought a Dreamcast just to play this game.

Mars-Matrix

Brutal, heavy going, Man's Shmup - not for the girls.

tatsujin-ou

Great graphics - lots of chunky mecha to be seen. Great music.

Rather unfair at times and not well designed for the player to survive should they die and find themselves at a check-point but a great Shmup all the same.

[KidQuaalude]

Star Force - Love the 'secret' scoring tricks.

Gaplus - Most frantic game in the Galaxian/Galaga series. Awesome bonus round.

Terra Cresta - Cool bolt-on power-up system.

Flying Shark - It's harsh if you dont know what's coming but oh so rewarding when you get the stages memorised.

Batsugun - Experience/power-up system, hidden pigs.

Mars Matrix - For the sublime control system.

DDP DOJ - Brutal but never unfair.

Musihimesama Futari - For its score system, graphics and perfectly pitched difficulty.


*edit * if forced to pick just one - it'd be Star Force.

[Immryr]

what is the point in a thread called "what is your favourite shooter and why" where people just make a list of games they like? this would be more interesting to me if people would just commit to one. as someone already pointed out, there is a "best stg of all time thread" already for lists.

[Xyga]

what is the point in a thread called "what is your favourite shooter and why" where people just make a list of games they like? this would be more interesting to me if people would just commit to one. as someone already pointed out, there is a "best stg of all time thread" already for lists.

Which is why I made it a rule in my 'your best game' thread lol.
To OP: there are always those who will bitch but don't mind them, rules make the inquiries/polls/whatever worthwile, if you don't set any it always end up in chaotic BS, always.

[Krimzon Kitzune]

As a Toaplan junkie, I have to break from that for a moment and admit that my favorite shmup is Lightening Force (A.K.A. Thunder Force IV). The game is seasoned to perfection in all areas, but the thing that stands out to me most is the incredible use of the Genesis/MegaDrive sound chip to produce an epic metal score. Of course, the graphics are nothing short of incredible, to say the least; let's just say that if I didn't know any better, I'd swear I was playing an arcade game!

[Bonus!]

Crimzon Clover: WI. It plays fabulously well, great bosses, and amazing colors. Some of the patterns give me a visual high, in particular the rotating laser attack of boss 3, and the final pattern of the TLB.

[Kino]

.

[AxelMill]

Ouch, 'tis a tough one. I played more than 50 shmups this summer only, so... Yeah.
Besides the obvious Chronicle Saviours, I'll list these in almost no particular order.

DariusBurst. Though it feels pretty lacking, given that it only surpasses Sagaia GB and Darius+ in number of Zones and the bosses are even less, I had a lot of fun with it. Probably because I made my first two 1CC's there.
G-Darius. Everything about it is amazing, its music (Adam, Kimera II and B.T.Dutch stand out), its Capture Ball mechanic, especially its stages, unparalleled by any other shmups'. I still adore Zone Nu Genesis.
Rayforce/Gunlock/Layer Section. Storm didn't impress me at all in Taito Legends 2 PS2, but when I got my hands on the PC version specifically for this game... Love the lack of stage transitions, as it feels a single journey as it should be. The final stage and boss are epic, besides the unmemorable music.
DoDonPachi Daifukkatsu Black Label. Its music. Period.
A lot of the Sega Genesis shmups, such as Gaiares, Eliminate Down and Lightening Force, for their amazing 2D graphics (like Thunder Force IV's Air Raid stage), sound and gameplay.
Last, and kinda least... Here goes my nonexistant reputation...

Spoiler

R-Type Final. Yes, it is kinda slow. Yes, the Giant Enemy Crab is one of, if not the, worst mid-boss I've ever fought in any game, ever. Yes, the music is barely there, and music is really important for me.
But the atmosphere. The atmosphere of this game is something I've never seen and want to see more of. The sadness that permeates through this game's stages and sound resonates with me so much.
Come at me, haters. Or don't, please.

Oopsie, I had to post only one of them. Doh.
Then screw all that and make it Chronicle Saviours. The soundtrack is huge, including tracks from every main Darius game, and of course beautiful. It is clearly the longest shmup ever made (not talking about the short Arcade mode, but the rest of it). It has a huge amount of bosses, despite there being three versions of multiple bosses. Finally the stage backgrounds are varied, unlike vanilla Burst (still nothing compared to G, though). Playing it dual-screen is something else. There's nothing to dislike.

[KaiserFoxHD]

Gigawing, Radirgy, Ketsui Kizuna & Mushihimesama Futari - They just suit me,

[rcoltrane]

I consider myself as an oldschool shmupper, I really can't dig 'Bullet Hell' shooters. My favorite shmup would be a tie between Saint Dragon and Tokio. I like them both at the same level so it would be unfair to choose just one of them.

Honorable mention goes to: Sega Mega Play version of Bio-Hazard Battle, Vulgus and Skywolf.

Planning to try Gynoug soon, for the Sega Mega Drive. It has cool graphics and very nasty end-of-level bosses (specially the 5th level boss...is that a d**k???).

[ARF]

Touhou 14.3 Impossible Spell Card by far, because it's only for people who are
1. Educated
2. Patient
3. Attentive, and
4. Analytic
ISC rewards people who are intelligent enough to clear it without using items. It doesn't make it easy to clear because it's not for the average STG fan who need everything fucking explained to them like they're goddamn children.

And that's why it's probably the best STG in the past 10-20 years, hands down. It's the first real STG for intellectuals since Battle Garegga...though honestly, I think it might surpass even that.

[Satan]

Tokio.

Great audio.

[Hagane]

Dragon Blaze, for being absolutely perfect. Everything good about Psikyo is taken to the limit: variety, fast pacing, aggressivity. Excellent patterns and scoring.

Sengoku Blade, for similar reasons, but with better pixel art graphics, superb visual direction and the best incarnation of the gold grab system. Easily the best of the older Psikyo games.

Batrider for looking and sounding incredibly well. Immense character variety, great take on suicides with the teams, awesome bosses, large variety of options.

Progear, for its scoring system. Cave usually separates survival from scoring systems, but here both are combined quite well. You either cancel those bullets or you die. The diamond chaining technique is really fun to pull off too.

UFO is my favorite Touhou. Characters are fun, boss patterns are memorable and well designed from a thematic standpoint, really fun scoring system that is hard to grasp at first but is rather straightforward yet involves lots of execution and strategy, very good music. Stage 6 is wonderful, completely synchronized with its theme.

[pegboy]

Dragon Blaze, for being absolutely perfect. Everything good about Psikyo is taken to the limit: variety, fast pacing, aggressivity. Excellent patterns and scoring.

Sengoku Blade, for similar reasons, but with better pixel art graphics, superb visual direction and the best incarnation of the gold grab system. Easily the best of the older Psikyo games.

Batrider for looking and sounding incredibly well. Immense character variety, great take on suicides with the teams, awesome bosses, large variety of options.

Progear, for its scoring system. Cave usually separates survival from scoring systems, but here both are combined quite well. You either cancel those bullets or you die. The diamond chaining technique is really fun to pull off too.

UFO is my favorite Touhou. Characters are fun, boss patterns are memorable and well designed from a thematic standpoint, really fun scoring system that is hard to grasp at first but is rather straightforward yet involves lots of execution and strategy, very good music. Stage 6 is wonderful, completely synchronized with its theme.

Hey, have you put much time (or any) into the Psikyo ports on PS2 (Sengoku Ace, Sengoku Blade, and Dragon Blaze)? Is Dragon Blaze worth getting on PS2? I have the Sengoku Ace/Blade pack but I'm not sure how it stacks up comapred to MAME.

[Sakurei]

UFO (...) really fun scoring system

Top kek. If you have UFO and then "really fun scoring system", you're doomed to only pick one.

I already know the answer, but this is just to confirm: Have you even tried scoring the game? Because if you did, you'd know that UFO's system has some ridiculous flaws and that Ichirin is literally cancer in bullet hell form.


My favorite shooter is Phantasmagoria of Dim. Dream or Imperishable Night. The former is just crazy and super sanic whereas the latter is just really well made with one of the best systems which relies completely on good execution.

[Hagane]

I have, and Ichirin is my favorite boss. I like that for one you are not given a million lives and bombs as in something like IN, too.

Hey, have you put much time (or any) into the Psikyo ports on PS2 (Sengoku Ace, Sengoku Blade, and Dragon Blaze)? Is Dragon Blaze worth getting on PS2? I have the Sengoku Ace/Blade pack but I'm not sure how it stacks up comapred to MAME.

Not really, I played them on MAME most of the time. From my experience I remember feeling some input lag on Sengoku Blade. The ports have a good plus though: they let you pick the order of the random stages. That's good if you want to play them for score. Otherwise I'd personally just stick with MAME.

[Sakurei]

Unlike UFO, you aren't supposed to use all your lives in IN, though. The most you use is on Ghost team/Yuyuko with all of one (1) suicide and then like 10 bombs. Which is way less than what UFO uses.

You liking Ichirin grazes makes me question if you really played the game properly. There is only 1 solution: Post your scores.

[Obscura]

For me, it's an impossibly tough call between Dragon Blaze, Air Gallet, and Border Down.

Air Gallet is just pure fast-bullet love. It's also interesting to play a Raiden-like game where the red vulcan spread isn't the best weapon. Bonus points for surprisngly manageable recoveries, perfect "cheesy '80s movie" dialogue, and that amazing Joker Jun spritework and background art.

Border Down is the best hori ever, and if you disagree, you're wrong. Well thought out rank and scoring mechanics mean that both players simply gunning for survival as well as players going for high scores have reason to use all of the game's mechanics, stage design is good, and the boss fights are epic.

Dragon Blaze is the perfect blend of weapon-gimmick strategy and blazing proactive aggression in an ultra-high tempo adrenaline-soaked game.

[Bananamatic]

my favourite shooter is elliot rodger

sdoj is also cool

[Mister Midnight]

Lords of Thunder- PC Engine
This game is rock n roll, blew my mind back in the 90's

[Squire Grooktook]

I don't want to say elitism, but elitism.

Get out.