Shmups you play when you just want to relax

[wasilewski]

What are your favourite shmups to relax to? Games which give you the satisfying combo of good music, good gameplay and loads of stuff to shoot on screen.

Mine is ProGear. Nothing beats the feeling of blasting away enemies and hearing the sound of all those coins being collected. It kicks my ass most of the time, but it is a lot of fun to play.

[DoomsDave]

I really don't like the sound effects in Progear so surprised to hear you say that. Maybe I'm in the minority.

I love to play Futari BL Original to relax. I'm a scrub, it's one of my only 1ccs and it's easy with good music. Not a shmup but if I want to listen to a podcast or something and mindlessly play something then it's Binding of Isaac.

[Bananamatic]

I just watch streams or practice my routes while listening to music

[Deadliar]

This is gonna sound silly but Hellsinker.

Once you master the mechanics it's far more relaxing than an average shmup, as you can slow, block and negate your way out of hazards.

If I'm really, really in need of relaxation, I play as Minogame to boot.

[wasilewski]

I really don't like the sound effects in Progear so surprised to hear you say that. Maybe I'm in the minority.

I love to play Futari BL Original to relax. I'm a scrub, it's one of my only 1ccs and it's easy with good music. Not a shmup but if I want to listen to a podcast or something and mindlessly play something then it's Binding of Isaac.

I haven't got into Futari at all, I need to play it some more after reading your post .

I just watch streams or practice my routes while listening to music

Ah yeah, streams are good to watch. Do you have any favourites?

This is gonna sound silly but Hellsinker.

Once you master the mechanics it's far more relaxing than an average shmup, as you can slow, block and negate your way out of hazards.

If I'm really, really in need of relaxation, I play as Minogame to boot.

Another game I haven't heard of! Unfortunately a lot of those doujin games aren't Mac compatible

[Shepardus]

My choices vary depending on what I've been playing. Most shmups that I put a lot of time and effort into become at least somewhat relaxing due to their familiarity. I found the first loop of Dragon Blaze in particular to be surprisingly relaxing, almost meditative, due to its strong sense of rhythm and the heavy focus on memorization which meant that once I had it down to muscle memory I didn't have to do much reactionary dodging, allowing me to play the game even late at night when I was barely awake.

Parodius Da! is also relaxing for me. The pressure starts to mount around stage 8 if I'm still alive by then (and also spikes on the stage 5 boss) but before that I really enjoy cruising through the stages and listening to the music. The slowdown also means it's never too fast for me to handle; I do make mistakes but they aren't because I wasn't high-strung enough to react in time.

I've been playing a lot of Gradius III (arcade) lately and I was thinking even before seeing this thread that the bubble stage is very relaxing, especially with a strong ship type like Type B. The music pairs up very nicely with the ambiance of popping all the bubbles, and the act itself of popping the bubbles is satisfying in a sense similar to popping bubble wrap. The slowdown also helps keep it at a manageable pace for relaxation.

Route ADH in Dariusburst AC is good too, the music is smooth and calming and the route itself is very easy.

Also, with regards to streams, high-level Gradius III players are a good choice. Streamers like Fleako and ZER can consistently loop the game, and they stream quite often, so you can reliably catch the whole game on the stream instead of being treated to stage 1 resets over and over again. Since the game loops infinitely the stream is a very continuous experience with little break in the flow. Effectively it's like a screensaver showing a continuous feed of different parts of Gradius III. Multi-loop recordings on YouTube are good too, just without the live factor. owarabi's Same! Same! Same! streams are nice for similar reasons. Tatsujin Ou has the right music to be relaxing but the game's just too hard for me; watching videos works though.

[Austin]

I'll usually play something on the 16-bit gen consoles in that case. A lot of them from the Genesis and SNES in particular aren't all that stressful on stock settings (i.e., TFIV, Musha, Gradius III, UN Squadron, etc).

[MathU]

I don't play challenging action games when I want to relax, and I just can't enjoy a scrolling shooter that isn't challenging.

[MintyTheCat]

I tend not to play Shmups to relax. For that I would play a platform game. I tend to play Shmups to release some steam.

[pieslice]

Vimana

[Kollision]

Mushi just because I love the game so much
also Score Rush on XBLIG

[copy-paster]

Android port of Strikers 1999 is meant to be played when relax.

[Stevens]

Score Rush on XBLIG

Fucking A, damn shame there is no online co-op. One of my favorite games to play while relaxing.

Broken Pearl also on XBLIG is another great one.

[wasilewski]

Mushi just because I love the game so much
also Score Rush on XBLIG

Score Rush looks amazing, I need to get an XBox.

[Squire Grooktook]

I don't play challenging action games when I want to relax, and I just can't enjoy a scrolling shooter that isn't challenging.

I tend not to play Shmups to relax. For that I would play a platform game. I tend to play Shmups to release some steam.

Yeah, I'm closer to these guys.

I play shmups for excitement and hyperactivity. If a shmup is starting to feel "relaxing" and tranquil, that's usually when I put it down.

[Kollision]

Mushi just because I love the game so much
also Score Rush on XBLIG

Score Rush looks amazing, I need to get an XBox.

It's also available on Steam, if I'm not mistaken.

[Deadliar]

I don't play challenging action games when I want to relax, and I just can't enjoy a scrolling shooter that isn't challenging.

I tend not to play Shmups to relax. For that I would play a platform game. I tend to play Shmups to release some steam.

Yeah, I'm closer to these guys.

I play shmups for excitement and hyperactivity. If a shmup is starting to feel "relaxing" and tranquil, that's usually when I put it down.

You will never ascend, may Yagawa have mercy

[Squire Grooktook]

Then I will descend, and make The Devil's Kingdom my own.

[wizkid]

i switch to an underpowered ship or change the difficulty to hardest, now that i have no chance of winning, i can relax.

[wasilewski]

Mushi just because I love the game so much
also Score Rush on XBLIG

Score Rush looks amazing, I need to get an XBox.

It's also available on Steam, if I'm not mistaken.

Unfortunately I'm on a Mac . I have to make do with MAME only.

[MintyTheCat]

I don't play challenging action games when I want to relax, and I just can't enjoy a scrolling shooter that isn't challenging.

I tend not to play Shmups to relax. For that I would play a platform game. I tend to play Shmups to release some steam.

Yeah, I'm closer to these guys.

I play shmups for excitement and hyperactivity. If a shmup is starting to feel "relaxing" and tranquil, that's usually when I put it down.

I am not sure about you chaps but I prefer a turn-based strategy game as opposed to a RTS game when I wish to relax too.

[ReSe2k]

I can't play stg's to relax, because i either try to survive or to score as high as possible.

But i love watching replays and people streaming. I have a Superplay on my HDD i used to watch often and usually fell asleep during Stage three

[Xyga]

I'll usually play something on the 16-bit gen consoles in that case.

This +NEC

[donluca]

Unfortunately I'm on a Mac . I have to make do with MAME only.

Give Wineskin a shot, it has worked with all Windows STGs I've thrown at it so far.

[Stevens]

Mushi just because I love the game so much
also Score Rush on XBLIG

Score Rush looks amazing, I need to get an XBox.

It's also available on Steam, if I'm not mistaken.

No game can put me into the zone or make my eyes cry for a rest like Score Rush.

Also couldn't find it on Steam, but it is on PS 4. I'm curious if they included online this time.

[EmperorIng]

The first 2 or so stages of nearly any given Cave game are very relaxing for me. E.G. I am on auto-pilot for ESPGaluda until stage 3 boss, or stage 4 midboss.

[Kollision]

No game can put me into the zone or make my eyes cry for a rest like Score Rush.

Also couldn't find it on Steam, but it is on PS 4. I'm curious if they included online this time.

Thanks for the correction, Stevens!
It's actually on the PS4, not on Steam.

[Stevens]

Thanks for bringing SR up in this thread Kollision - I went back to it and cleared it on hard. Extreme next?!

[Cata]

Crimson Clover on Novice always feels pretty good

[Xyga]

anything but a game with bells. also none with a green option/weapon.