Beginner's guide to 360 shmups?

[cj iwakura]

I finally picked up a nice 360 Elite at a pawn shop. My Deathsmiles faceplate finally gets its use after years of waiting.



I was all psyched to get Radiant Silvergun, and good god are there a lot of shmups on this store. Any recommendations in general? Keep in mind I have a PS3, so I'm talking exclusives.

I'm not a huge fan of Cave shmups to be honest. They're okay, but my tastes skew more towards Alfa System, G.Rev, Milestone, etc. The unusual suspects.

I own Deathsmiles 1 and Akai Katana, by the way.

[Doctor Butler]

Not including CAVE games, I have

Raiden IV
Raiden Fighters Aces
Wartech - Senko no Ronde
Bullet Soul - Infinite Burst

and on XBLIG, definitely look into Game-Type and Snops Attack.

[cj iwakura]

Oh yeah... I need to hunt down a copy of Senko no Ronde at some point(if that's even possible now).

[TransatlanticFoe]

Shooting Love 200X (Trizeal, Exzeal, skill test minigames) is localised but digital only.

Shooting Love 10th Anniversary (XIIZeal/XIIStag, DeltaZeal/G-Stream G2020 is a region free JP disc game.

[gray117]

Would have thought strania + bangi-o could be up your street for something a little different (both xbla) ?

[clippa]

I think they removed trouble witches neo from xbox live for some reason, shame as that was good.

I know you're not that into cave, but have you played guwange? That's amazing, probably my favourite ever shmup. There's a free demo if you want to try it out at least. - http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-GB/Produ ... 0258410a78

Triggerheart exelica is good fun, you get to swing big ships around and chuck them at idiots. Also has a demo - http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-GB/Produ ... 0258410888

[LordHypnos]

Pretty big fan of Triggerheart, myself. Try the demo first, though, as it's probably somewhat divisive due to the weird gimmick. I'd also recommend XBLIG Valkyrius. Much more fun than you'd expect for a game that has a warp mechanic and limited ammunition for non default weapons as its gimmick. Also try a demo if it's available. Eschatos is very good if you don't already have it for PC, and would prefer the console version for whatever reason.

[MR_Soren]

Download:

Radiant Silvergun
Triggerheart Excelica
Strania
Guwange


Disc:
Mushihimesama Futari
Eschatos
Raiden Fighters Aces


Also, not a shmup, but Bangai-O Missile Fury is pretty cool.

[TransatlanticFoe]

+1 for Triggerheart as well. Easy mode is very easy (your shot cancels most of the bullets) if the grapple/chuck mechanics seem tricky to manage at first.

Though it's stripped down from the Dreamcast and PS2 versions, so tough to recommend if you have either of those already.

[cj iwakura]

Strania had my attention, I'll have to try it out, same with Guwange.

Bangai-O seems like a must have, since I don't have my Dreamcast copy anymore.


Also, I briefly owned that garbage Konami Gradius anime ripoff. Boy was it awful.

[d0s]

I have no recs other than what's been listed but to throw this entirely off topic for a sec, it's neat/weird to see another STG fan from coral springs, where I spent most of my teens. Do you remember the shitty arcade in the mall?

e: actually since you said you're a milestone fan: you'll come across something called sakura flamingo archives or something, it's a collection of the milestone games but the ports are apparently awful. stick to the originals on DC

[HydrogLox]

Oh yeah... I need to hunt down a copy of Senko no Ronde at some point(if that's even possible now).

Should be fairly easy, it's definitely fairly common (published by Ubisoft) and typically about five bucks at a GameStop/EB Games.

http://www.gamestop.com/xbox-360/games/ ... onde/65087

http://www.gamestop.com/xbox-360/games/ ... aces/74040

http://www.gamestop.com/xbox-360/games/raiden-iv/78539

e: actually since you said you're a milestone fan: you'll come across something called sakura flamingo archives or something, it's a collection of the milestone games but the ports are apparently awful. stick to the originals on DC

Won't run on a stock NTSC-U Xbox 360 anyway as it is NTSC-J region locked (as is the earlier Radirgy Noa MASSIVE release).

FYI: rancor currently has a used copy of Bullet Soul (the original, not Infinite Burst - NCSX).
Ginga Force & Eschatos Wonder Pack - NCSX
Dodonpachi Resurrection Deluxe - NCSX
Shooting Love 10th Anniversary: XIIZEAL and Delta ZEAL - NCSX

[davyK]

Caladrius is fun.

[Van_Artic]

isnt XBLIG done and gone for good?

[HydrogLox]

No new XBLIG games after Sept. 9, 2016; sales of XBLIG games stop Sept. 2017. An indeterminate time after that you will still be able to download and play the products that you have paid for.
XBLIG Program Announcement | XNA Game Studio Team Blog
XBLIG Shutdown FAQ - Xbox LIVE Indie Games Forums