Not once in my entire life have I seen a Cave game in an Australian arcade in the flesh. For Aussies, it's import games or MAME as your one and only chance to play Cave stuff.
-Galaga (or the Galaga/Ms. Pacman combo cab)
-Saw Aero Fighters 2 a while ago
-Pool hall has a Space Invaders cocktail cab
-I think this burger joint nearby has a Raiden 2, but I'm not sure if it's still there.
Yeah, that's it, not much to be had. There are a few arcades in town but I haven't been to them in a long time and I'm 99% sure that they're filled with lightgun games and racers. Heck, the last good arcade I went to (Ground Kontrol in Portland) didn't have much in the way of shmuppy goodness except for a Raiden 2 and some emu cab that had Battle Garegga on it. Oh, and Assault. That game rules.
We here shall not rest until we have made a drawing-room of your shaft, and if you do not all finally go down to your doom in patent-leather shoes, then you shall not go at all.
It's been a while since I really went out looking for shmups around here, but the common ones seem to be:
Raiden Fighters 1 or 2 (haven't seen Jet anywhere in a while)
Strikers 1945
Aero Fighters
Of course, since most of those (RF1 and 2, as well as S1945) are right here in my office whenever I want to play them (read: feel ambitious enough to pull the cabinet out and change boards) I don't really need to go anywhere for a shmup fix. Up until about a year ago, we had what might have been be the best shmup arcade this side of the Pacific here in town, but they got turned into a smoothie bar long ago. There's a few scattered ones to be found here and there though.
Strikers 1945 at a bowling alley
1942 at a skating rink (this cab was severely fucked though. vertical movement impossible, and horizontal movement inconsistent.)
last time i saw these though was mid-last year. for all i know they are gone now.
besides my own arcade the only place to play shmups was a neogeo machine (in a shoe repair store) that had blazing star and strikers 1945+.. tho they replaced that machine with a crazy taxi about 1 year ago...
the amusement park where i live has a 3 story building with arcade machines but not a single shmup, actuall they dont have a single worthwile game there sad really.. all the machines are in pisspoor or worse condition too..
the destruction of everything, is the beginning of something new. your whole world is on fire, and soon, you'll be too..
I wouldn't say there are any 3 'common titles' in my local arcades. I can only list what we have had over the past few months;
Ketsui
Mush
Cyvern
A.P. Batrider
Progear
Sengeki Striker
Strikers 1999
Strikers 1945 Plus
Strikers 1945
Raiden Fighters I
Raiden Fighters Jet
Raiden III
Raiden II
KK Tiger Two Plus
DDP II Beestorm
GWG and Border Down got taken out just over a year ago.
Oh let's see.. gotta be.. Strikers 1 and 2.. Galaga in the 20th cabs, Raiden Fighters 1 and 2. Back in the day tho, there used to be stuff like Viper, Hotdog Storm, Mars Matrix, Giga Wing etc. but no.. now that arcades are slowly bleeding to death here, that's all we are left with