aesthetically superior shmups

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 6:04 pm

Probably discussed before, but not recently, iirc.

So which games stand out because of their artistic look and sound?

I'm going to say, for me: Dragon Blaze, R-Type, Radiant Silvergun, and Harmful Park are all top-notch.

But I'm sure that many of you will come up with more impressive lists.

ahnslaught · Post by **ahnslaught** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 6:15 pm

The game I'm most impressed by, with regards to aesthetics, is Progear, as it reminds me of stuff like Last Exile which also had beautiful environments. It has a very fun atmosphere and is not too serious, all the while managing to kick my ass around at the same time. Come to think of it, I think it has one of the best settings out of almost any game I've played, shmup or not.

Ikaruga is also an obvious choice, as the whole black/purple and white/blue thing is carried out throughout the game and is just great eye candy.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 6:24 pm

Yeah, Ikaruga is commonly mentioned in this regard, but I don't think it's Treasure's most artistic look. Those dark interiors with pathways created by simple boxes, some moving around. I like the 3D look on the whole, but there are parts that seem really uninspired to me.

CIT · Post by **CIT** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 6:47 pm

Very few shooters these days are aesthetically highly pleasing. Danmaku kind of requires simple backgrounds in order to keep things clear and visible.

Even though games like Progear and Ibara have excellent character design and setting, the in-game graphics are actually not so impressive. For example Progear almost completely lacks parallax scrolling.

Anyway, I usually prefer a dark, atmospheric style, here are some faves:

- Rayforce
- Einhänder
- Guwange
- Soukyuugurentai
- Pulstar
- Last Resort
- most of R-Type series
- RSG/Ikaruga

Ramus · Post by **Ramus** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 6:49 pm

I love ESPGaluda II's vibrant, fantasy style. Very detailed with all the little spray or exhaust coming from some enemys. Hmm... others are Ibara, DOJ, Ikaruga, Gradius V, and Gunbird 2. Yes, I said Gunbird 2.

Tychom · Post by **Tychom** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 6:54 pm

I think the artwork and overall design of Dogyuun is quite stunning.

zinger · Post by **zinger** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 7:20 pm

Darius Gaiden
Metal Black
Blazing Star

Nei First · Post by **Nei First** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 7:37 pm

I think I generally have a soft spot for fantasy-themed shmups, when it comes to art. I absolutely love the music and artistic beauty of Mushihimesama, everything about it, the landsacape, the design and animation of those bugs, Reko's design, the blue explosions I think they're gorgeous!

Others I really like are Cotton 2, Harmful park, and ESPGaluda II, some nice backdrops in them games. I also appreciate (in contrast) the much more serious, military artistic style of ketsui, along with it's music.

Frederik · Post by **Frederik** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 7:37 pm

I`ll pick Garegga. Though I suck at this game very much, its got something very sinister and threatening (I also suck at the English language too - look to the left to see why) - from the metallic looking bullets, the stompin industrial/techno/hardchore/machine-funk music, to the multi-part mechanical bosses. Its grim. Its brutal. And it is the hallmark of Raizing from then on. Oh, and those weird way the enemies explode (in looping and screen-spanning bursts of fire) is very typical too.

And when every enemy onscreen keeps aiming at you with their turrets creates a sense of emergency that no pink bullet-rain can surpass. In Garegga, you`ve got the feeling that EVERY part of it wants you dead.

But thinking about it, I´ll pick Ibara. I never got the chance to play it but what I can see from the dozens of videos I`ve seen so far everything about it is equally threatening as in Garegga, but with a highly stylisized rose/thorn theme and a weird steampunk touch that we`ve seen in Progear. Soft purple and grey graphics covered with thorns, beautiful girls that want to kill you, bullets that are not pink and blue blobs but sharp nails - now thats a thrilling combination.

Damn, I want that game.

Post by **Dave_K.** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 7:42 pm

I'll second ESPGaluda II, although I can only watch replays, I'm sure the detail is even more impressive with the real PCB. Blowing off the left arm of that one midboss, as he clutches it with blood streaming out, is just insane.

Nei First · Post by **Nei First** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 7:42 pm

Nei First wrote:I think I generally have a soft spot for fantasy-themed shmups, when it comes to art. I absolutely love the music and artistic beauty of Mushihimesama, everything about it, the landsacape, the design and animation of those bugs, Reko's design, the blue explosions I think they're gorgeous! I love some of the music too (the synth style theme of stage 3 comes to mind).

Others I really like are Cotton 2, Harmful park, and ESPGaluda II, some nice backdrops in them games. I also appreciate (in contrast) the much more serious, military artistic style of ketsui, along with it's music.

it290 · Post by **it290** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 7:45 pm

I'm gonna say some of the later Toaplan games like Outzone and Tatsujin 2 -- I dunno why, I just love the intricately detailed pixelling in those games. The art style is just so tight and concise.

Raiden 2 deserves a mention as well, for the beautiful explosions and craters and the awesome animation on the walker bosses, for example.

Post by **Dave_K.** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 7:50 pm

Nei First wrote:Accidental post, mods please delete if necessary.

You know you can delete your own posts right? When logged in, just click the x icon on the upper right of your post.

PsikyoPshumpPshooterP · Sun Mar 19, 2006 8:38 pm

Guwange will always be the prettiest shmup ever. hands down. this game puts me in awe everytime i play it

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 8:42 pm

When it comes to aesthetics, let's see...

Salamander, R-Type, Defender, Xevious, Tempest... all these were truly outstanding.

And - a personal favorite when it comes to graphics: Agony

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 9:02 pm

A few I can recall off the top of my head...

Batsugun: Excellent "semi-cartoony" graphics (some refer to it as the "chunky" look, typical of Toaplan), very colorful and detailed. I'm half-tempted to put it a notch above DoDonpachi (in itself a good looking game imo) in the graphics department, even though the latter appeared several years later. My personal favorite "old-school" style graphics.

Battle Garegga: Despite my couple of "issues" with the game, I've never had anything but praise for the graphics: not only are the gritty atmospherics and details top notch, but few, if any, other games have ever duplicated its overall visual "feel." Its powerful uniqueness makes it all the more puzzling why they went with such a painfully generic style for Battle Bakraid...

Guwange: I think that most of Cave's games are excellent from a graphical point of view, but out of the whole kit n' caboodle I'd probably give the nod to this one...the weirdo monsters, feudal settings, and lots o' shiny coins combine for a real visual tour-de-force. Mushihime-sama's lovely giant bugs and Ibara's mass-destruction-a-go-go are close seconds, though.

Cotton 2: While I prefer Boomerang in terms of gameplay, I'd probably give the edge to its prequel in terms of pure presentation...rich, lush fantasy stuff, rivaled only, perhaps, by Chariot (from Wonder 3), Dragon Blaze, and Twinbee Yahho!

There are lots of other games whose graphics I like a lot, though those above have stuck with me the most.

roker · Post by **roker** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 10:30 pm

Garegga just nailed the whole military look

it's so unique that pictures alone won't do it justice

I think this is mainly because of the debris and explosions

I know many prefer the pink bullets and such, but the whole stoic/industrial look is amazing

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 10:41 pm

Xexex immediately came to mind with its exotic palette.

visuatrox · Post by **visuatrox** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 11:23 pm

Gradius V and Ikaruga - Except that the level design may be a bit generic both look very great in all aspects.

Border Down - (Dreamcast) 3D does not get much better than this. The first level looks fantastic.

Mushihime Sama - (Arcade) I like everything about it (too bad that the PS2 port has the worst looking filtering/scaling I have seen on the PS2).

Blazing Star - (NeoGeo) Really impressive pre-rendered graphics, and cool level design. Also at the time the game was made, prerendered graphics usually equalled plastic looking crap.

Agony - (Amiga) Still today, few games have surpassed it's artistic style.

Sanxion - (C64) I thought the graphics were soo awesome and realistic (yea I know when looking at the game today, it looks like crap).

R-Type Final - (PS2) It has a couple of totally awesome looking and sounding levels (especially some of the last ones), but the overall impression of the game is let down by a few totally annoying and crap levels

Randorama · Post by **Randorama** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 12:09 am

I still think that Xexex stomps on the rest of subsequent twodee shmupos, frankly. Well, except for Rayforce and Sokyugurentai, which define scaling and thus sexiness, in my book. Batsugun is deliciously solar, albeit looks like a late 80s title, and Garegga is a blatant rip-off of Laputa castle in the sky, dammit

elvis · Post by **elvis** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 12:20 am

I'm quite a fan of the little cutscenes in Psyvariar2 (exploding planets are cool). Quite beautiful I think. Although the "ingame" graphics are quite boring. Likewise for Ikaruga - nice between level/boss scenes, but the rest is a bit boring.

Speaking 2D, I'm still stupidly in love with Mushihime Sama. I say that and people roll their eyes at me, but I really think it's Cave's prettiest title ever.

I'm not a Raizing gameplay fan, but the Garegga and Ibara explosions are very fireworksie-pretty. The rest of the sprites are quite plain and boring if you ask me.

I don't know if there's ever been one game that I've been impressed with graphically the whole way. Some have their moments of brilliance in particular places, but on the whole aren't so great.

EOJ · Post by **EOJ** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 12:57 am

For 3D: Ikaruga and Border Down. I love the feel of both games, there is a real cohesiveness to the graphics (especially in ikaruga), along with great design. Ikaruga stages 4 & 5, along with BorderDown Stages 3 & 4 are the absolute best examples of the '3D graphics 2D gameplay' shmup.

For 2D: ESPGaluda II and Ibara. Ibara has the best explosion graphics in any shmup, and Galuda II is just gorgeous (I love the fantasy setting, feels like a lovely RPG world). I've played Gaijinpunch's PCB a few times and now I can't wait for the port.

Neon · Post by **Neon** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 1:14 am

From best to least:

Raiden 2/DX. Sprites very small but extremely animated.

I really like Tiger Heli as well...the 'trees' and general lack of realism.

Strikers 1+2 for WWII era planes shooting lasers at giant transforming mecha bosses. level design-wise not the best but great games artistically.

Ex_Mosquito · Post by **Ex_Mosquito** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 1:31 am

Mushi. It makes me do a sex wee.

Neon · Post by **Neon** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 1:39 am

sex wee

It was you pretending to be dave4shmups back then wasn't it? hah

GateofThunderforceIII · Mon Mar 20, 2006 3:38 am

Something a little different here: Gynoug/Wings of Wor. For me, at least. I'd love it if somehow the core development members from NCS got together and made a sequel for current machines. Of course, preferably all done in sprites with the same serious yet monstrously gruesome style and atmosphere as the original (and not gay like Cho Aniki) complete with hyper detail and insane animation. I can only wish.

This game wowed me with the huge bosses, so much sprites displayed onscreen, and the second level with all the bubbles in the background. Beautiful game.

Ko.oS · Post by **Ko.oS** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 3:54 am

gynoug's last stage is truly gorgous(sp?) - too bad it takes so long to get there.

ccovell · Post by **ccovell** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 4:24 am

Axelay!!!!!!

C'mon, give it some love.

roker · Post by **roker** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 4:24 am

Randorama wrote:Garegga is a blatant rip-off of Laputa castle in the sky, dammit

the anime?

I still don't think that takes away from it's graphical style

but whatever

BAD · Post by **BAD** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 4:52 am

For 3-D, PS2-powered shooters Silpheed (even with its sometimes clunky enemy design) and Gradius V (with its irritating environmental hazards) look great. I am still impressed with Silpheed every time I play it, and with Gradius V Konami used the PS2 to create some nice effects. I also think Ikaruga looks good (both on DC and GC), and Zero Gunner 2 is another one I think very highly of (the models all look great). But for DC shooters, I think GW2 looks the best; it's just gorgeous. For older 3-D shooters, RayCrisis and Soukyugurentai also look nice.

For 2-D, I'd have to say that Cave and Psikyo shooters look the best. The detailed visuals of ESP Rade and the lush visuals of Drazon Blaze have stood the test of time very well. And though many consider it to be on the gloomy side, I loved the gritty visual presentation of Ketsui. CPSII shooters are also some favorite visuals for me; 19XX has a polished classic look to it, the futuristic look of Mars Matrix is another one I love, and Dimahoo has some cool visuals. Other ones that have stood the test of time well are Axelay (I agree with you guys, killer graphics all-around), Wings of War (I agree with you guys again, gruesome, and the bosses are truly scary), and Raiden Fighters 2 Jet (Raiden on steroids). I'm sure there are more...

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aesthetically superior shmups

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