16 bit (ish) vertical shmups with castle stages

[Squire Grooktook]

Looking for inspiration on tilesets!

Note I say 16 bit-ish because nes is a bit too simple but Cave-style lushness is a little too complex. Looking for that smart "do a lot with a little" clever tileusage of console and arcade titles from around the time of sfc, mega drive, x68, pc-engine, etc.

Few of note:

Elemental Master
Cyber Core
Dragon Spirit
Dragon Saber
Psycho Chaser
Spriggan

[Xyga]

Not all purely shmups but...

Phelios
Undead Line
Twinkle Tale
Arcus Odyssey
Lords of Thunder

[Perikles]

Battlantis
Detana!! TwinBee
Dimension Force
Flying Hero
God Panic
Kiki Kaikai: Nazo no Kuro Manto
Mahou Daisakusen
Phelios
Plus Alpha
Pop'n TwinBee
Sapphire
Star Parodier
Sylphia
TwinBee Yahhoo
Twinkle Tale
Undeadline
Youjyuden

[Shepardus]

Inside or outside of a castle? Gunbird has the latter as one of its random stages (and has different coloring for the second loop). Gunbird 2 also has a castle in one of its random stages (2-1 in the "default" stage order), though that may be too modern for what you're looking for.

[Keade]

Twinkle Star Sprites has a castle stage (that is when you fight against Mevious, the second-to-last boss).

[Sumez]

Not a shmup, but has a similar vertically scrolling graphic style, I think Gaiapolis has some really pretty castle stages.

[Kollision]

Gaiares

[OmegaFlareX]

Came to post Mahou, Perikles beat me to it.

First stage is a FLYING castle.

[MintyTheCat]

Looking for inspiration on tilesets!

Note I say 16 bit-ish because nes is a bit too simple but Cave-style lushness is a little too complex. Looking for that smart "do a lot with a little" clever tileusage of console and arcade titles from around the time of sfc, mega drive, x68, pc-engine, etc.

Few of note:

Elemental Master
Cyber Core
Dragon Spirit
Dragon Saber
Psycho Chaser
Spriggan

Can I ask what sort of tools you are using? I run my sets through my own tools to determine usage and patterns.
Not sure what platform you are going for but you may wish to compress/encode if you are up against the limits.

[Squire Grooktook]

Can I ask what sort of tools you are using? I run my sets through my own tools to determine usage and patterns.
Not sure what platform you are going for but you may wish to compress/encode if you are up against the limits.

It's more of a "money" issue than a technical limitation issue ^_^ sprites art is relatively expensive even for dudes with lower rates. The bigger and more complex, the more it inflates. Using tiles smartly is a good way to avoid breaking the bank.

That being said, even beyond monetary pragmatism, I am a fan of that classic tiled look in general.


Anyway been watching through all the suggestions here and taking pages of notes. Thanks all!

(any other discussion or suggestions are still welcome though)

[Mortificator]

Most examples I can think of have already been named, but the original Cotton has a couple of stages in a Ghosts 'n Goblins-esque castle.

[supergrafx77]

Espgaluda II: Pretty sure you are flying over a huge ass castle in stage 3.

Edit: Oh... just saw the 16bit only mention in OP's thread...
uhh.......

[Obiwanshinobi]

The Schwarzwald stage of Sonic Wings Special? I suppose it's derived from another Sonic Wings game (its castle/stronghold is a boss, no less).

[MintyTheCat]

Can I ask what sort of tools you are using? I run my sets through my own tools to determine usage and patterns.
Not sure what platform you are going for but you may wish to compress/encode if you are up against the limits.

It's more of a "money" issue than a technical limitation issue ^_^ sprites art is relatively expensive even for dudes with lower rates. The bigger and more complex, the more it inflates. Using tiles smartly is a good way to avoid breaking the bank.

That being said, even beyond monetary pragmatism, I am a fan of that classic tiled look in general.

I can relate to the money issue
I would 'borrow' ( rip ) some graphics, make a tileset and a map and adjust the palette for now to give the feel. Certainly Spriggan has some good sources. What is your resolution?
Also, I keep books about all sorts for reference and I have a good one about Cathedrals. I bet that there are some good books about castles with lots of photos too if you have a look around for ideas.